In religion and spirituality, the bare feet have always played an important, sacred role.
For instance, the practice of taking off footwear before entering a temple, church, mosque, shrine, ashram, or any other holy place has been and is still associated with humility and respect for the Divine.
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Another practice is that for thousands of years, many monks, nuns, mendicants, and sadhus (wandering monks) have been walking barefoot as a sign of humility, letting go of the ego, penance, purity, mourning, and/or piety. Some only practiced this in their monasteries, as part of their wandering lifestyle, in sacred places or on pilgrimages, but others were barefoot all the time.
In addition, for Buddhist monks it’s a custom to engage in so-called walking meditation, which is carried out barefoot within temple enclosures or outside in nature. It’s thought that when the feet touch grass, moss, stone, or soil the mind becomes still and more suitable for meditation.
In India, the pranama is a form of respectful or reverential salutation or bowing before something or another person. This can be done for one’s spouse, elders, teachers, or for deities.
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A specific form of pranama is the charanasparsha, which means “touching the feet.” It’s a respectful bow combined with the touching of the feet of elderly people like parents, grandparents, or elderly relatives, a guru, sadhu, or monk.
In Christianity, the foot-washing rite (called maundy) is still a practice carried out by various Christian denominations, typically on specific holy days or as part of church services.
The ceremony honors the directive of Jesus Christ, which stipulates that his disciples should follow his loving humility in the washing of their feet. As Jesus said: “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also should wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”
And, in several indigenous cultures, walking barefoot was and sometimes still is, apart from practical reasons, likewise a spiritual practice to maintain a respectful and unbroken connection to Mother Earth.
